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Albert Fall Chase
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1st Lieutenant Albert Fall Chase, born 10 May 1918, son of Clarence and Alexina Chase of Ruidoso, New Mexico, second grandson of Albert Bacon Fall and Emma Fall of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Graduated 1936 Tularosa High School, Tularosa, New Mexico, attended New Mexico Agriculture and Mechanical Arts College, Las Cruces, NM 1936-1940. Entered U.S. Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in March 1941 where he trained at Fort Bliss, TX and Fort Huachuca in southern Arizona. Sailed on USS Pierce 6 June 1941 arriving in Philippines 21 June 1941. First assigned to Forty-fifth Infantry at Fort McKinley, Chase was transferred to the Visayan-Mindanao Force (Seventy-third Regiment/Eighty-first Division) where he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. Following 8 December 1941 attack on Philippines, the VMF moved from the island of Negros to Mindanao where Chase was assigned to the town of Iligan (northwest Lanao sector). On 27 May 1942, 1st Lt. Chase and others were ordered to surrender at Dansalan and were moved the following month to Camp Keithley. A forced “death march” on 4 July 1942 back to Iligan followed by transport to Cagyan via the hold of the transport ship Tito Maru. On 18 August 1942, Chase and others placed in hold of Maru 760 at Cagayan and transported to final incarceration at Davao (Dapecol) on southeastern coast of Mindanao. Incarcerated at Davao until March 1944, when selected to work on the Lasang airfield detail along with 650 other prisoners of war. On 20 August 1944, Chase and remaining POWs were placed in hold of Erie Maru for transport to the port of Zamboanga. Transferred at night to the Shinyo Maru, which sailed from Zamboanga on 5 September 1944 zigzagging up the western coast of Mindanao. On the afternoon of 7 September 1944, the Shinyo Maru was torpedoed by the USS Paddle and sank in six minutes. 1st Lt. Chase did not survive the sinking. Lt. Chase was awarded posthumously the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He is survived by two sisters who live in the Alamogordo and Las Cruces, NM areas. Submitted
by Nancy E. Shockley, M.A., New Mexico State University based on master’s
thesis “The Life and Death of 1st Lt. Albert Fall Chase,
1918-1944” which was the recipient of the Monroe Billington Best Thesis
Award from the Department of History in May 2004. Photograph of 1st Lt. Albert Fall Chase courtesy of Archives and Special Collections Department, New Mexico State University Library, Era Rentfrow Papers, Ms 221. For contact information, email address is nshockle@nmsu.edu or P.O. Box 3032, Las Cruces, NM 88003-3032.
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